Stay ConnectedA biweekly pinball podcast brought to you by the people that run Wedgehead, a pinball bar in Portland, Oregon. Each week Alan and Alex discuss a different pinball topic, with a focus on location play, often with other interesting guests.
Support our show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast
If you have any questions, or might want to guest on a future episode, please email : wedgeheadinfo@gmail.com.
Copyright: © 2023 Wedgehead Pinball Podcast
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast
In this episode we are joined by a very special guest, the man who saved pinball with a single shot, and who wrote the first published book on the history of pinball, Mr. Roger Sharpe.
https://wedgeheadpdx.com/podcasts/ Link is to some bonus materials on our website to see all the games that we are talking about in this episode.
Roger is a legend in the pinball world, most it well documented elsewhere, but he joined us on the podcast to talk about a different industry legend: the late great Harry Williams. Founder of the eponymous Williams Mfg. company, and the man who did more for pinball than any other single person in its long history.
Harry brought electricity to pinball, designed the tilt mechanism, was the first to place magnets under the playfield, invented the first pop bumper, was the first to put score reels into a game, and the first to put elevated wire ball paths (the precursor to modern ramps) and more in his games OVER 70 YEARS AGO!
Roger famously interviewed Harry back in the 1970s for his book PINBALL!, and he joins us to talk about the legacy of this great man, helping to fill out the details of Harry's life and of his personal warmth. Listen to Roger tell stories of Harry as a mentor to a young version of himself when he was developing his first pinball design Sharpshooter, and insights of Harry's return to the pinball design world in the late 1970s via Sam Stern, aka Gary's dad for Stern Electronics.
Harry was a visionary, and was the greatest single creative force that the pinball industry has ever seen, but whilst his many contributions to pinball persist to this day, he remains heinously underappreciated and celebrated for being the true prophet of pinball that he was.
We hope that this episode sheds some light on pinball's brightest star.
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast
In this episode, Alan and Alex are joined on the show by Rachel and Cale, owners and operators of the Electric Bat Arcade in Tempe, Arizona. We discuss the Phoenix Valley pinball scene, the history of the Bat, their legendary Tuesday night league that regularly draws 100+ players, operator pet peeves, splits, tokens, and much more.
Join us for this in depth look at another very cool operator and listen to us talk about the pinball operating business and compare some regional differences between our scenes.
...we are adults, we swear sometimes.
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast
In this episode, Jessica DeNardo from Barrels of Fun pinball returns to the show to defend one of her favorite games of all time, 1989's Bad Cats designed by Barry Oursler with art and theme concept by the inimitable Python Anghelo.
Listen to Jessica explain what makes Bad Cats a great game, and respond to all the internet haters!
Meow Meow Meow Meow.
...we're adults, so here's the standard warning that we may curse occasionally throughout the episode.
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast
In this episode, Alan and Alex are joined by their good friend and staunch solid state pinball evangelist, Ty Palmer. Ty is a fiend for early solid state machines, and will happily go weeks or months without playing a single game newer than 1985.
For his first appearance on the show, we decided to narrow down this era to one manufacturer, Bally, and keep it to the machines they released during the rise of the SBA dollar coin, and how this decision by the US treasury impacted pinball. This also dovetailed with the release of Pac-Man in 1980 and immediately put the future of pinball into jeopardy.
Bally released their best machines of all time in this short window, and we talk about each of them and try to provide some historical context for them in between.
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast
In this episode of the podcast, Alan and Alex are joined by their friend Jessica DeNardo, a multi talented woman who hosts her own pinball podcast (the Pinball Podcast), makes and sells her own pinball inspired clothing (Soft Plunge), founded the Portland chapter of the Belles & Chimes, worked as a pinball tech in Florida, and has recently moved to Houston to work on the production and assembly line at Barrels of Fun Pinball Company helping to manufacture their first pinball machine 'Labyrinth'
The three of us talk in depth about all the wild and interesting extra button gimmicks found on pinball machines through the eras, from the magna saves on Black Knight and Grand Lizard, to the shifter knob on Getaway, to the Gator ball eater on Nip-It, all the way up to Stern's usage of the central action button on their lockdown bars.
There's some really cool and interesting gimmicks over the years, and we do our best to cover as many of them as possible.
...but we are adults, so occasionally we use some adult language.
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast
In this episode Alan and Alex discuss the most common new post on any pinball forum, subreddit, or facebook group: Buying your own pinball machine to put into your house.
This episode is meant to give a better, more whole picture of owning pinball machines. Alex is a home collector, and Alan owns Wedgehead as an operator, and they discuss why you don't need your own machine to enjoy the hobby of pinball, but if you do want to own them, you are gonna have to learn how to fix them, as well as get accustomed to talking to a lot of old dudes on the internet who don't know how to text.
We talk the good, the bad, and the ugly so that you can make an informed decision for yourselves. There's a lot of other pinball pods that are either hosted by distributors, or sponsored by them, and many of the hosts are themselves home collectors. There's nothing wrong with any of that, but home collecting is almost a separate sub hobby of playing pinball, and one that is a much bigger commitment than some of them might lead you to believe. We aren't sponsored by a distributor, so we speak freely about what happens after you take the plunge and purchase a pinball machine for yourself.
...we're adults so there may be some swearing in the episode.
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast
On this episode, Alex sits in the hot seat to defend his love of 1995's No Fear: Dangerous Sports. A divisive game design by the king of flow, Steve Ritchie.
Hear Alan and Alex discuss the game, and read and react to some bad reviews they found for the game. Alex owns this game, and he's VERY passionate about it, so tune in and see why you might need to give No Fear another chance.
...we are adults, and passionate pinheads, so there is some adult language in this episode.
In this episode of the podcast Alan and Alex reminisce over how they got into the hobby, and dive into some conversation aimed at newbies to the hobby who have gotten bit by the pinball bug.
We give some advice about proper etiquette, how not to sound like a dipshit on location, the joys of playing with others, and how to become a better player through personal accountability and the playing of older solid state and electromechanical games. Listen to us remember our younger selves, and hopefully steer you away from some of the same pitfalls.
As always, we are adults and we swear sometimes throughout the episode.
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast
In this widebody episode of the Wedgehead pinball podcast, Alan and Alex welcome the return of Chris Rhodes back to the show. He is the other half of Wedgehead, and he is back to discuss the 7 widebody pinball machines released by Bally/Williams during 1993 and 1994.
We cover the definition of a "Superpin" and have a discussion about about each game, and what we like or dislike about each one. We also give a unique award to each game, and at the end of the episode, you can find our own personal rankings from best to worst, including the lists from our previous episode guests Zoe, Greg, Daniel, and Ty.
...episode might contain some swear words, we are adults after all.
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast
In the 3rd installment of our "Die on this Hill" series, we welcome back Greg Dunlap, former pinball programmer whom we interviewed on Episode 11, to defend Data East's 1994 game 'WWF Royal Rumble.
Hear why Greg thinks this an underrated game, and hear our reactions to the pile of bad reviews I found for it all over the internet.
...includes some adult language.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
